Please Wake Up
by MissyLove4Life
Summary: It seems to be a normal day, then max gets a call that changes everything. A one shot, but it could be a two shot in the future.
1. The Phone Call

My breath was coming out in sharp gasps as I ran up the stairs leading to the hospital doors, still hearing the horrifying and unbelievable words that came through my cell phone. I guess I should start from the beginning. My name is Maximum Ride, and I am 18 years old. I live with what I consider my true family, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, Total, and Akila. Fang and Iggy are the same age as me, Nudge is 15, Gazzy is 12, and Angel is 10. Total and Akila are dogs, that got married when I was 15. Total is a talking, flying black Scottie, while Akila is just a regular Siberian Malamute. And I am sure you all know my story so can we just skip that part to save time, please? Thanks. So, we all live with my real mom, Dr. Martinez, and my half-sister Ella who is 15.

We were all just hanging out in the family room, talking and laughing and just having fun. My cell phone rang, and we were all confused by who would be calling me at 11:00 pm. I flipped open my phone and answered with the typical hello, of course. HA. Tell me, how many of you fell for that? Me, MAXIMUM RIDE, be normal and typical. That is enough to send the most straight-faced person in the entire galaxy, into a hysterical laughing fit. No, I didn't recognize the number, so I had to say the appropriate thing.

"Are you scientists coming to kill us all?", was what I yelled into the speaker. So much for keeping your head in strange situations, Max. There was silence on both the other end of the phone, and in the room around me. I looked up to see everyone staring at me like I had a second head or something. "..No, this is Dr. Roberts from the hospital. Are you Maximum Ride?", was the reply I got from my phone. I felt like crawling under a rock and dieing at that moment.

"Oh, sorry. Yeah this is Max, what do you need?", I could only imagine the checkup scheduled for one of the flock members. Fang was deathly afraid of needles, Iggy didn't trust anyone to so much as tap him on the shoulder if he didn't recognize the touch, Nudge would punch a person on the street if they were wearing a white coat, let alone a place full of those people, Gazzy would let loose all of his demonic powers so that every doctor in there died in less than a minute, and Angel would mind control them into killing each other or walking off the top of the building. Oh joy.

Turns out, none of them needed a checkup. "Ms. Ride, I am sorry to inform you that you need to get down here immediately." Okay, weird. What was this dude talking about? "Umm, why?", was my ever intelligent response. I was not, in a million years expecting the answer I got. "Your father, Jeb Batchelder, had a heart attack earlier today. He isn't awake, and we wanted to let you know."

I was frozen. I ran through every memory I had of him. When he helped us escape the School. When he taught us to fly. When he left us after two years. When two years later we found him again, working for the School. Everything. I couldn't believe that the man I had spent so much time convincing myself I hated, was lying on his death bed. I realized then, that he was my dad and I did love him. I shut my phone, effectively ending the call. I tucked it into my pocket, and looked up at everyone watching me. "Jeb had a heart attack, and is in the hospital," the words left my mouth before I even thought about it. Then everything finally hit me, and I sprang into action.

I jumped up surprising everyone and grabbed the keys to my gorgeous midnight blue Jaguar, from the hall table as I ran out of the room. I slammed the front door behind me and sprinted to my car, quickly getting in and starting the car while trying to put my seatbelt on at the same time. Once everything was ready, I backed up out of the driveway and poured on the gas to get me to the hospital. It was a 15 minute drive, and I made it in about 8. Thank god there were barely any cars, and no police where I drove. So here I am now, pushing open the doors and running in looking like a mad woman, most likely.

I ran up to the reception desk and slammed my hands on the table to get the attention of the two gossiping nurses. They turned, shocked at the loud slam. "Jeb Batchelder," was the only thing I said to them, and their faces sank into pity and sympathy.

"The doctor will be right out, hon," said one of the nurses with a Southern accent. I nodded and sat down on one of the chairs. The doctor walked out at the same time everyone came bursting through the doors. When the doctor walked in looking through a file in his hands, the two nurses stopped talking and turned to gaze at him with this adoring look in their eyes. He looked to be in his early thirties, had medium brown hair that looked really soft, bright green eyes, about 5'11" 6 feet. All in all, he was pretty good looking.

I saw the flock freeze a bit then they surprised me by putting on determined faces and running over to me with my mom and Ella in tow. I was so proud of them for walking into a hospital and not attempting to murder anyone….yet.

"Who's here for Jeb Batchelder?", was the first thing out of the doctor's mouth. I got up and we all walked over to him. He was definitely shocked by the huge group, even Total and Akila were with them. Total was in Angel's arms, and Akila was on a leash that was held onto by Fang.

"Dr. Roberts? I'm Max Ride, we talked on the phone earlier," I knew I would be the one to talk since he called me. Plus it was obvious that while the flock didn't mind _walking _into a place full of people in white coats, and needles, and antiseptic smells for me, they would not _speak _to said people in white coats for anyone. The doctor looked relieved that he didn't have to deal with any of the kids glaring at him like he was Satan's spawn or something. He gestured for us all to follow him down a hallway. I followed him and heard everyone's feet come behind me. I smiled a bit to myself, knowing that my flock had my back.

Dr. Roberts stopped at a door with a huge Plexiglas window on the right. He waved his hand at the window, to indicate we should look through it. We all gathered in front of it, and I was suddenly glad that Fang was standing behind me, otherwise I would have stumbled back and fallen. He grabbed my elbows to keep me upright, and rubbed his hands up and down my arms to calm me down. Iggy grabbed one of my hands, while Nudge took hold of the other. Angel and Gazzy squeezed in between everyone's legs to grab onto the hem of my shirt, like little kids do to their moms in crowded stores. Akila stuck her head in between my legs, and Total leaned on my arm from his spot in Angel's arms. Mom grabbed one of Gazzy's hands in her own and held it, while Ella took Nudge's other hand. We all stood like that looking in on a mind that less than an hour ago, we all hated. There was no way in hell, heaven, Earth, or any other planet, that any of us felt that way now.

Inside the room, on a hospital bed was Jeb. He was hooked up to monitors, there were tubes in his mouth, and Ivs in his arm. He looked ghostly pale and so thin, there was barely any bones, just skin. This was not the man that I knew as my father. "I know that seeing him like this is a huge shock to all of you, and I apologize for making you see him this way. But I know that you all want to know what is to happen to him," the doctor's voice broke my stare at this shell of who Jeb really was. This …._thing_ in front of me was NOT my dad. He looked broken and beaten, and horrible. I hated seeing him like that.

"Well?", it was the first thing my mom had said since I got the call, "What is it?" Her face was set in a stone cold expression. I kind of felt bad for the doctor. _Kind of_.

He looked up startled at her, obviously expecting me to be the one to talk. Boy, was he poorly mistaken. "Well, he's asleep and we don't know when he is going to wake up," Dr. Roberts seemed to hesitate a lot during that sentence. What he really meant to say was, "We don't know if he will ever wake up, he might as well be dead right now for all it's worth." Damn, I really wish I could mess up that nice face of his. Bet the nurses wouldn't be swooning all over him then.

I saw Iggy and Fang turn and glare at the doctor out of the corner of my eye. I pretended not to notice. "So, what you're saying is that you called us down here to tell us to say goodbye, because the only thing left is for him to die," it wasn't a question, Iggy already knew it was the truth, as did the rest of us. At that statement everyone turned and gave the man the famous "flock glare". That was what the reporters called it, because we all did it at the same time and it made almost anyone it hit pee their pants. Just like "Dr. Dreamy" did right now. "Fuck off, we don't need your damn pity," Fang growled at the man with a dangerous glint in his eye. There weren't too many ways you could make Fang loose his cool, but upset one of the flock members and you were good as dead. The doctor just upset all of us plus Mom and Ella. Yeah, Fang wasn't the best person for the doctor to be around.

"Right then, well I-I'll just g-go t-to my office, now," Dr. Roberts had every reason to be so scared and stutter. He quickly ran off down the hall. We all watched him with slight amusement I our eyes. I was the first to turn away. I looked back through the window at my dad. I couldn't believe that they just wanted me to accept that he was on the brink of death. I felt my hand being squeezed, and turned to look at Iggy.

"Don't worry, Jeb is stronger than that. Hell, he can stand the flock glare for 10 straight minutes. And he only stops to roll his eyes at us for thinking we can intimidate him," Iggy reassured me, while adding a light joke to lighten the air. I smiled weakly at him. It was true, no matter what we did Jeb never seemed scared or intimidated by us. It was like he still saw us as the little kids he raised in the E house.

" I want to go inside," I said quietly, and everyone moved their hands away so I could get through. I walked over and opened the door, but it was caught before I tried to shut it behind me. I turned and saw everyone walk in behind me, giving me encouraging looks. I saw that Angel had passed Total to Ella, and how her and Gazzy looked heartbroken when they caught sight of Jeb's body. I picked Angel up and held her in my arms, and motioned for Fang to pick Gazzy up. He did, and didn't receive any protests though Gazzy was going through his moody teenage stage right now, and refused to be treated like a baby at all. I sighed and sat in one of the many chairs with Angel in my lap. I smiled at Jeb's unconscious form and grabbed one of his hands. He'd be okay, I knew it.

A/N: I know I haven't posted in a long time and I am soooo sorry guys. I've been really busy, and when I'm not busy I keep getting writer's block. I will try to write more often, but I hope this will keep you guys from wanting to rip my throat out. If you want me to continue this into a two-shot, the you need to REVIEW! I love that you guys are reading my stories but I'm being greedy right now. I want reviews. Also if you want to make it a two-shot then tell me what you think should happen. Should Jeb wake up or not? Do you want any couples in this, and if so which ones? I want to do my best to please you guys. So review and let me know. Thank you for reading my rant. And I will say it one more time, PLEASE PLEASE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP REVIEW!


	2. Please Wake Up

I can't remember how long I've been sitting in this chair. I know that I got the call from Dr. Roberts two days ago, and I had left a few times in between then and now to use the bathroom and go home and shower. But I always came straight back and I made sure he was never alone. The flock were all with my mom and Ella in the cafeteria, none of them could stand to look at Jeb for so long when he was like this. I didn't blame them; I couldn't even understand how I was tolerating it. Maybe it was because of how terrible I felt that I had never given my father another chance, even though he tried so hard to get back into my life.

As I looked down at the pale, sickly body of the man I used to look up to, I didn't feel guilty though. I just felt hurt, angry, and most of all sadness. It was like the sadness that bordered on depression. For the past two days all I could think about was the memories. How it was in the E shaped house, and how he really did act like a father to us all. All I wanted now was for him to wake up though. I didn't care that he had abandoned us, or sold us out to the whitecoats. I didn't care that he kept the truth from me for years or that he had kept lying the whole time since we found him at the School. I felt like a little girl, but not me as a little girl. I felt helpless, and like I just wanted my Daddy back. It was weird since I had never even thought of being that close to Jeb since I was 14. But it was true.

I quickly latched onto his hand, and squeezed my eyes closed to stop the tears from falling. "Hey Jeb, it's me again. I know you probably think I shouldn't stay here and should be out saving the world or something," I gave a dry, half-choked laugh at that but kept going, "but I can't leave. You're my dad, and even though we haven't been close lately, it hurts to see you like this. I just want to tell you that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being a horrible daughter and not wanting to see you or talk to you or having anything to do with you really. If I could go back I would change that in less than a heartbeat. I know you're getting older now, but you're not that old so you need to pull yourself together and wake up! I want to learn more about you, and spend more time with you, and just be there for you in general. I don't know how else to explain it to you. It doesn't make much sense to me, but I just want my dad back, you know? So please wake up for Angel and Gazzy, they were heartbroken when they saw you. Wake up for Nudge; she's been dying to talk to someone about how to advance her telekinesis powers. Wake up for Iggy; he wants to try out the "flock glare" on you again. Wake up for Fang, because you taught him to never give up and you would be contradicting yourself if you gave up this fight against your body. You always said that our bodies were strong, but our souls and hearts were stronger. I mean your heart isn't really strong right now, but figuratively it is! You have all of us here waiting for you. Total and Akila really want someone to just sit for hours and pet them. Ella thinks of you like a second dad and it's hurting her same as it's hurting the rest of us. Mom, I know you still have feelings for her, and I know she does for you too! For her wake up please! Wake up for me your only daughter! Ari already died I can't lose you too! Please Daddy please…" I broke off sobbing and huddled my face into my arms on the edge of the bed.

I felt Fang standing next to me before he crouched down, but still looked up anyways. I saw him looking at me with tears running silently down his face and sadness etched into his eyes. Behind him, I could just barely make out a nurse standing in the doorway looking at us with pity and a haunted expression. She probably had to see this every day. Fang opened his arms and I forgot completely of where I was and that there was a nurse and probably everyone else watching from outside, and flung myself into them. I sobbed even harder into his shoulder for a long time, until there were no more tears and I was just sitting in his lap shaking. I felt him move and turned my head to see what he was doing.

He had grabbed the hand I had dropped and held it for a while before speaking. "Jeb, its Fang. I know you might not hear me, but if you can just listen for a bit okay?" he spoke softly, but it sounded loud to my ears, "Max already told you her part, but all of us feel the same way. You were our first parent, someone who actually cared about us. I want to apologize for everything we ever said or did to you. We were just hurt and confused, but now we're even more. We need you Jeb, all of us do. So like Max said about a billion times, please wake up." I heard footsteps and saw the other flock members walk in. They all knelt down next to us and murmured the same thing to him. The words that would be our motto until Jeb really did awake. "Please wake up."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey everyone! This is officially the last chapter of Please Wake Up. I want to thank everyone who reviewed and gave me the confidence to write this. But also, I just want to thank everyone who took the time to read this. Without all of you, I couldn't have gotten the courage to actually continue this and change it from a one-shot.**

**Also, not many people know why I wrote this to begin with. A year ago, I was told that my grandfather who lived in another state had a heart attack. He used to live like right down the street from us and hearing this made me regret not learning as much as I could about his life. After thinking and crying a lot, I decided I just needed to write and out came this. I just felt that the whole background to this story should be shared. Everything is fine now, my grandpa is healthy and a lot better than he was before, but I still worry every day. And now I'm depressed, so I'll just say one more time thank you all so much, and I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride :( Unfortunately.**

**Jeb's POV:**

I was so confused, it felt like I was just floating but it still didn't make any sense. I remembered being at the supermarket and thinking of how I should go to Valencia's house and check on the flock. Valencia, it may be hard to believe but I had fallen in love with her when we had first met. Even after all these years, and with our daughter hating me, I was still in love with her. Deciding that after I put the groceries away at my apartment I would go and see all of them, I continued with my shopping. I started to feel this strange pain in my chest while looking at the different brands of cereals. I frowned, and brought up a hand to massage at my chest. I moved on to the produce section, completely forgetting about the cereal. The pain was still there in my chest, and I found myself struggling to breathe. I vaguely noticed a few people look my way curiously. And that was when I felt it.

It was probably the most excruciating pain I would ever feel, and I could hardly imagine anyone surviving even half this pain. I felt my legs give out, and then I was sprawled out on the floor. It seemed as if everyone in the store was surrounding me by then. An older woman leaned over and checked my pulse. I saw her face go white and her eyes widen, before my eyes slid shut. After that, everything sounded as if I was hearing it from underwater. I heard people screaming about calling an ambulance, and them searching my pockets for something. I couldn't remember how to speak and I could feel myself losing consciousness. Before I slipped into the darkness though, one face popped into my head. I immediately grabbed someone's hand who was hitting my chest. I struggled to open my eyes, but eventually I could see the panicked face of the woman who felt for a pulse. I coughed out the two words that meant everything and more to me, before feeling my head fall back against the floor and losing myself to the darkness. "Maximum… Ride."

**Max's POV:**

It's been two days since I had broken down and Fang came up with our new motto for Jeb. Ever since, no one has wanted to leave me alone. They're all scared that I'll go berserk or something. So right now, all of us are in Jeb's room trying to keep from crying too much. The doctors already told us again that they didn't think he would make it, but I just couldn't give up hope that my father would wake up. I blew out a sigh, and looked away from the bed to where everyone else was.

Gazzy and Angel were curled up on the floor with Total and Akila, at first glance it looked like they were all just staring at each other blankly but I suspected that Angel had connected all of their minds and that was how they were talking. Could she do that? I can't remember, that child has way too many powers. She looked over at me and gave me an innocent smile. I blinked and gave her an uneasy smile; it felt weird to smile after being so depressed for the past four days. Looking up I saw my mom and Ella on this couch thing in the corner. They were talking a little, but mostly they stayed quiet and looked around the room at random objects. I noticed Nudge next to Ella, and they were talking a lot. I smiled slightly, glad that the two of them had become such good friends. Looking over at the wall by the door, I found Fang and Iggy leaning against the wall talking in quiet voices unlike the two girls on the other side of the room who were apparently talking about this guy Ella liked at her school. Fang glanced up and caught my eyes. He offered me a small smile before looking at the bed behind me. My smile dropped, when I saw Fang's eyes widen and his jaw drop a little. Spinning around, I had to clamp a hand to my mouth to keep from screaming or crying. I wasn't sure which really.

There on the bed was Jeb, his skin still pale and sickly looking, but his eyes were open and looking right at me. My dad gave me a weak smile before reaching out with a hand, which I instantly took and feeling the pulse beating strong in his wrist, let the tears finally leak out of my eyes. Hearing a series of gasps from behind me, I turned to see everyone up on their feet and looking at me with hope in their eyes. I moved to the side so they could see Jeb looking at them with a weak smile on his face. "Hey everyone," he croaked out, his voice sounding scratchy and rough, but it was exactly what we all needed to hear to know he was really here. Everyone rushed forward to surround him and they were all talking loudly and crying and just hugging him. It really was a sweet moment, and I couldn't really remember seeing Jeb smile so big. I guess we really were too hard on him before, but I was determined now to always be there for him. He looked up at me and I pressed the button to call the doctor in before going around and sitting next to my dad and giving him a hug, trying to not hurt him. He had a look of surprise and complete happiness on his face, which only multiplied by like a thousand when I said the words that had been racing through my head since I saw he was awake. "I'm so glad you're awake Dad."

That was how the doctor and nurses found us when they walked in. Two dogs sitting at the foot of the bed, a woman sitting on a chair with tears running down her face as she clutched the hand of a man who though very weak looked like the happiest man on Earth, two teenage girls sitting next to the dogs with huge grins on their faces, two blonde kids curled up next to the aforementioned man, two teenage boys on chairs on the other side of the bed talking with the man about something that obviously had the three of them excited, and a teenage girl sitting on the bed next to the man and smiling with tears running down her face. This was a strange family, filled with many people and animals, they weren't all related to each other, but they cared for each other and protected each other more than some biological families did. The sight of this family though sounds strange, was enough to bring smiles to the nurses' faces and tears to their eyes. And that was because they knew what this group had gone through in less than a week, it was because they had seen the tears fall, and heard these people repeat a mantra over and over for two days. And now, their_ father _was finally awake, and they looked like there was no possible way to be any happier. This was what a real family looked like, because they all showed true love and care for each other even if they didn't realize it.

**Well, it's done! I said basically everything I had to say earlier, so the only thing I can say is that there is a very lonely looking review button at the bottom of the screen. You should show it how much you care by clicking it! And then showing me how much you loved this story by leaving a review! Yeah, that sounds good to me. Haha, alright bye guys! ~MissyLove4Life**


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